The present invention relates to a governor for an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to a mechanical governor with a take-up spring for a small engine.
Governors are generally used to regulate and stabilize the speed of engines, such as internal combustion engines. The governor generally receives an input indicative of an engine speed and moves an engine throttle to adjust the engine speed. A governor spring affects movement of the throttle such that the governed speed of the engine is determined by the interplay between the movement of the throttle and the spring force of the governor spring.
A typical governor provides continuous adjustment to a throttle or other control member in an effort to maintain a constant engine speed. The governor generally includes several linkages or connections that can cause inaccuracies in engine control. For example, if a sudden load change produces a speed change, this will be sensed and passed through the linkage to produce movement of the throttle. However, if the various linkages are not tightly connected, the movement at one end of the linkage may not translate to the throttle, thereby resulting in inaccurate engine control.
In many internal combustion engines, these inaccuracies may result in engine hunting. Hunting occurs when the engine overshoots or undershoots the desired speed without quickly settling at the desired speed. Hunting can be caused by many factors, including the use of springs having incorrect spring rates, sticking or binding between movable parts of the engine and the governor, excessive clearance between components, and the like.